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2 Kings 11:5b–7

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11:6Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation11 Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard.12 You will take turns guarding the palace.1311:7The two units who are off duty on the Sabbath will guard the Lord’s temple and protect the king.14

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Footnotes

  1. 11 Heb “the gate of Sur” (followed by many English versions) but no such gate is mentioned elsewhere in the OT. The parallel account in 2 Chr 23:5 has “Foundation Gate.” סוּר (sur), “Sur,” may be a corruption of יְסוֹד (yésod) “foundation,” involving in part dalet-resh confusion.
  2. 12 Heb “the runners.”
  3. 13 The meaning of מַסָּח (massakh) is not certain. The translation above, rather than understanding it as a genitive modifying “house,” takes it as an adverb describing how the groups will guard the palace. See מַסָּח for the proposed meaning “alternating” (i.e., “in turns”).
  4. 14 Verses 5b–7 read literally, “the third of you, the ones entering [on] the Sabbath and the ones guarding the guard of the house of the king, and the third in the gate of Sur, and the third in the gate behind the runners, and you will guard the guard of the house, alternating. And the two units of you, all the ones going out [on] the Sabbath, and they will guard the guard of the house of the Lord for the king.” The precise meaning of this text is impossible to determine. It would appear that the Carians and royal bodyguard were divided into three units. One unit would serve during the Sabbath; the other two would be off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada divided the first unit into three groups and assigned them different locations. The two off duty units were assigned the task of guarding the king.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And he commanded them, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards) shall guard the palace. And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the Lord on behalf of the king,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

He commanded them, saying, “This is what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath—a third of you guarding the royal palace, a third at the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding the temple—and you who are in the other two companies that normally go off Sabbath duty are all to guard the temple for the king.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath are to provide protection for the king’s palace. A third are to be at the Foundation Gate and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns providing protection for the palace.

“Your two divisions that go off duty on the Sabbath are to provide the king protection at the Lord’s temple.

NLTNew Living Translation

Jehoiada told them, “This is what you must do. A third of you who are on duty on the Sabbath are to guard the royal palace itself. Another third of you are to stand guard at the Sur Gate. And the final third must stand guard behind the palace guard. These three groups will all guard the palace. The other two units who are off duty on the Sabbath must stand guard for the king at the Lord’s Temple.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you must do: one third of you who go off duty on the Sabbath, the keepers of the guard in the house of the king, and another third at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the runners, shall guard the post of the palace alternately. Two of the units among you, all who go on duty on the Sabbath, guard the post of the temple of Yahweh for the king.

KJV 1900King James Version

And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king’s house; And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down. And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king.